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September 19, 2011

Rainmaker Jochen Drees forsaken by the rule

Markus Merk's general practitioner Dr. Jochen Drees was appointed to referee Saturday's Bundesliga encounter between 1.FC Nürnberg and Werder Bremen. It is the old hat that history in football always repeats itself: three years ago, he oversaw Nürnberg's home fixture against Wolfsburg which ended in a real pluvial battle...after 20 minutes, Drees abandoned the match after having waited two hours, upon consultation with DFB officials this was the only reasonable decision.

Anyway, Saturday, he met Nürnberg again and was some kind of unlucky in two different things:

After 35 minutes, there was again heavy rain but this time, the play could go on after a 40-minute half-time break. However, the key decision was in the 16th minute of the game when the following situation happened (1:00):

You have probably noticed the reaction of Nürnberg's coach Hecking who was upset by the decision made by Drees; he would have more likely seen an allowed goal. Only considering the foul itself, there may be no doubt that it is a straight red card, as long as the referee whistles it.

To my mind, that is no mistake, it is rather a difficult but unlucky decision made by the DFB referee.

The German TV-commentator said: " It would have preferred the goal and perhaps cautioning Wiese with a yellow card, then nobody can complain "...it that really so easy?

Of course, one has to look the rule up in FIFA's Laws of the Game (page 68):

"The referee may play advantage whenever an infringement or offence occurs.

The referee should consider the following circumstances in deciding whether to apply the advantage or stop play:

- the severity of the offence: if the infringement warrants an expulsion, the referee must stop play and send off the player unless there is a subsequent opportunity to score a goal- the position where the offence was committed: the closer to the opponent's goal, the more effective it can be- the chances of an immediate, promising attack- the atmosphere of the match

The decision to penalize the original offence must be taken within a few seconds.

If the offence warrants a caution, it must be issued at the next stoppage. However, unless there is a clear advantage, it is recommended that the referee stops play and cautions the player immediately. If the caution is NOT issued at the next stoppage, it cannot be shown later."

In my opinion, there are two opportunities: that what Drees did, i.e. issueing the expulsion immediately, but in this case he did not pay attention to the "subsequent opportunity to score a goal", which was obviously available. The other opportunity: advantage, but what comes then? It says "if the offence warrants a CAUTION, it must be issued at the next stoppage". But what about an EXPULSION?

Dr. Jochen Drees issueing a red card against Tim Wiese

The red card was awarded for the hindrance of the clear scoring opportunity, as this scoring opportunity is recovered, is there no need for a red card anymore? Or perhaps for an expulsion either? The rule does not reveal any information on how to issue an expulsion after an advantage...

My personal opinion is split...on the one hand, I think one should enable one's common sense, that means that I can follow the TV commentator's statement, but on the other hand, I think that there must be a red card even after an applied advantage because it was Wiese's only intention or aim to hinder the attacker to score, this intention is to my mind not changed by a scored goal after an advantage...very difficult, but at least it shows that Drees is not completely wrong and as the post's title says, he is more or less forsaken by the rule.

What do you think?

One thing is sure, when DFB is going to appoint Drees for a Nürnberg match next time, everyone should take two things along: an umbrella and a lot of time.

2
Comments:

in general, you can play the advantage even thoug you should send off a player but there should be an obvious goal scoring opportunity for the second player. if you play it you can't dismiss the player when the play is stopped. you can (should) only caution him as he didn't deny the goal scoring opportunity.in this particular situation, i would say that the opportunity for the shooting player wasn't obvious. at first, i didn't even see him running for the ball and i think drees didn't see him either. that's why i consider his decision to be correct.

Yeap..the decision is at least no mistake..sometimes a referee seems to be unlucky although his decision was reasonable or even correct. I think Drees did everything correct, I have not however found any passage in the rules which exposes a guideline for exactly this case.